An exploration of 1970s nostalgia and country rock music, "The Essential Straight & Narrow," is being presented by The Mad Ones at the New Ohio Theatre in Greenwich Village, through June 14. The cast includes (left to right) Stephanie Wright Thompson, Joe Curnutte, Connecticut native Marc Bovino and Michael Dalto.

Southington native Marc Bovino is one of the founding actor-writers of the New York company, The Mad Ones, which is presenting its new show, "The Essential Straight & Narrow," in Greenwich Village through June 14.

"Most of the time as an actor you don't get to decide what to do. Your choices are really limited. (I'm part of) a new generation of actors who want to make their own choices. We're not here just to be the objects of someone else's projects," Bovino said in a phone interview last week.

The Mad Ones has spent the last 18 months working on the new piece, which combines many genres, tweaks history and incorporates live music.

The company likes to explore the concept of nostalgia. The 33-year-old Bovino said "The Essential Straight & Narrow" blends 1970s photography, the myths of the mystical Southwest, country rock music and the motel architecture of 50 years ago to create what the company calls "an intimate anthem about regret and reinvention."

The idea of nostalgia has powered many a debate within the company, Bovino said. "Some of us are in love with it, some of us are critical of it ... but we all like to investigate things and places and a time period that we haven't experienced."

An earlier Mad Ones production, he said, was set in "an alternate Russian future where everyone is in love with the America of the 1950s.

"Nostalgia is a tricky thing. ... It was originally diagnosed as an ailment," Bovino said, chuckling.

The Mad Ones are part of a growing movement of actors, writers and directors taking charge of their own careers by starting companies and producing work they create. The new technologies allow the companies to bypass traditional marketing to connect with audiences much younger than the ones who patronize Broadway and mainstream nonprofit companies, such as Lincoln Center Theater and the Roundabout Theatre.

"We talk a lot about modeling ourselves after bands. They tour and produce new work. Bands are so popular with a wide spectrum of the audience ... theater companies are not.

"We like to think of each new play as an album and that every couple of years we release a new one. If you like us, you're going to want the new album," he said.

The Mad Ones also remind young people that a $20 ticket for an off-off-Broadway play is a bargain compared with the $100 or more that they pay for a major concert.

The acting bug bit Bovino early -- while he was in elementary school in Southington.

"My music teacher would have us put on plays, and I was in the Mother's Day play in first grade," Bovino said.

"I started there in sixth grade and did it every summer. Then she hired me to come back and work for the program," he said.

Bovino went on to the University of Connecticut, where he majored in art history and Spanish, but he decided to give acting another go by enrolling in the apprentice program at the Actors Theater of Louisville (Ky.), where he met the performers who would become his Mad Ones partners.

Bovino also saw in Louisville that he didn't have to go to New York City as an actor for hire, waiting for a soap opera or "Law & Order" to validate his career choice.

"At the Humana Festival in Louisville we were surrounded by companies that were all about making their own work. I met people who had taken another path," he said.